Mischief Managed
by True-Gryffindor-Auror
Summary: Lily had made her mind up. She was going to tell James Potter everything. From the moment she first saw him, to the moment she fell in love with him. Everything.
1. A Worrisome Night

**Mischief Managed.**

**Chapter One: A Worrisome Night**

If you were to walk along the streets of Manchester on August 14th 1977 near the secluded district of Spinner's End and looked toward the large grey clouds overhead, you would have seen a large, brown owl swoop from the sky and gracefully glide towards a small, semi-detached brick house and land, very precisely, on a window ledge of the second floor. The parchment attached to its right-leg contained a letter for a young 17 year old witch and this is where our story begins...

* * *

><p>Lily Evans' desk had just one item on it. This very same item had been resting there, quite motionless, for 10 minutes. The item was a letter, unopened and branded with a red wax seal.<p>

"Lily, darling, just open it."

"But, mum-"

"Don't 'but mum' me." Rose Evans said, torn between amusement and annoyance at her daughter's antics. "You've been harping on about this letter for weeks, and when you finally get it, you leave it unopened!"

At this, Lily let out a small pathetic whimper of protest, and continued to stare at the letter with reverence. Her eyes were of the brightest green and encased in naturally long eyelashes. Her hair, past shoulder length, was straight and crimson with her fringe sweeping across her face from right to left. She stood at an average height with a slender and attractive physique; her cheeks dotted with light brown freckles.

"Fine then, I'll open it for you - "

"NO!" Lily screamed, causing her mother to reel away from her in shock. "Sorry, but I want to open it! It's my last one, and I might - "

"- be Head Girl." Rose finished for her. "I would never have guessed." She murmured under her breath.

Lily took the letter in her hand and carefully broke the seal. Something small dropped out of the folded parchment and onto the table. Fighting back her glee, Lily chose to ignore this and read aloud her letter first.

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY _

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sroc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards.)_

_Dear Miss Evans,_

_We are pleased to inform you that will you are the Head Girl of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this coming year. Please find your badge your badge enclosed as well as the lists of all necessary books and equipment you may need to buy for your subjects this year. _

_We wish to remind you that the responsibilities this position brings are not to be taken lightly. You shall meet with you fellow Head Boy, James Potter –_

Lily froze. She quickly re-read the sentence. Twice. But it still wouldn't change. It really _did _say James Potter. She decided not to dwell on this longer than necessary and continued to read,

- _on the Hogwarts Express on the morning of September 1__st__ at 10:30am. _

_We, once again, offer our congratulations and look forward to seeing you in September._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

Lily placed the letter down and examined the badge that had fallen out from the fold in the parchment. It was shield-shaped, pale gold in colour with a diagonal scarlet band going from the top left of the badge, to the bottom right, with the words HEAD GIRL embossed in black letters. Smiling to herself, she turned to her mother who was beaming at her.

"I'm Head Girl!" she shrieked and allowed her mother to embrace her.

"See? What did I say, Lily?" Rose laughed, tearfully. "Oh, wait until I tell your father!" And with that, she rushed down stairs to tell Lily's father.

"As well as the whole neighbourhood" Lily murmured under her breath after her mother had departed her room.

Still wearing a large grin, however, Lily decided the first person in the wizarding world that she should tell would be her best friend; Alice Prewett. She found some clean parchment in the bottom of her chest of drawers, along with her deluxe eagle feather quill that she had received as a present from Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop for her seventeenth birthday, and composed her letter:

_Alice,_

_I can't believe we still have another two weeks until term starts again and I can't wait for our final year; it's going to be great! I'm really missing you here, being stuck Petunia and Vernon for most of the summer. Do you remember how I told you at the end of last year how much I disliked Vernon? Well, I was wrong. He's much worse; but I don't want to waste ink talking about him, I have some more important news._

_I'm Head Girl! _

_I know, I know; I can't believe it! I've wanted this since I was eleven and I thought they might just give it to me...and they have! You have no idea how much I am smiling at this._

_There is only one problem though, Potter's Head Boy. Maybe Dumbledore thinks that he's influential so people will listen to him, but I don't know. He breaks rules, he duels in corridors, ends up in detention with Black seemingly every day and he wasn't even a prefect! He's going to try to make my life a misery; I know it._

_Still, I will have my own room in the Head's dormitory but I'll still let you and Mary in to visit me, don't worry!_

_I'd better be going, Petunia and Vernon will be here for tea soon...oh the joy. I hope you had a lovely time with Frank over the summer! I expect to hear all the juicy news on the train!_

_See you soon!_

_Love,_

_Lily._

Lily folded the parchment and attached it to the leg of her beautiful white owl, Lugo. After opening the window and watching Lugo fly away to deliver her letter to Alice, she briefly considered writing to her other best friend, Mary, but then remember that she would still be on holiday in Australia and the letter would never get to her soon enough.

A knock at the front door brought her back to her senses, remembering that it was Petunia and Vernon who were now being greeted inside, her smiled began to fade. It was going to be a long afternoon.

* * *

><p>It was almost midnight and yet Lily still couldn't get to sleep. It had now been two days, nearly three, since she had received her letter telling her she was Head Girl, yet she could not stop thinking about one detail in that letter. The Head Boy.<p>

Lily was frustrated beyond belief. She wondered how on earth Potter, _James Potter_, had managed to become Head Boy. After this of course, thousands of questions sprung to Lily's mind like a torrent of water. Will he contribute to any of the prefect meetings? Will he embarrass her as Head Girl? Will he ruin all her plans and organisation? Will he bother making any decisions for himself? Will he start badgering her for help on his own work? Will he keep asking her out?

Thinking that she needed some time out of the house and to keep her mind off her worries, she decided to go to Diagon Alley the next day. Slightly more comforted by this prospect, Lily drifted off to sleep, not knowing that in just 24 hours she'd be in exactly the same place but more confused than she'd ever been before.


	2. A Bright Idea

**Mischief Managed**

**Chapter Two: A Bright Idea**

"But James!" Sirius whined in a sing-song voice. "Please! It looks really cool."

"No, Padfoot. It's 4:00am for Merlin's sake! I'll tell you what –" James paused to yawn, very loudly. "-when the sun is up, I'll come down and look at it, but now –" Another yawn. "- I would like to sleep."

"Prongs, you're no fun." Sirius moaned again, as he walked out of James' room and into his own. James grunted something into his pillow half-heartedly as Sirius was leaving and very soon drifted back off to sleep.

As the sun rose over the rather large back garden of the Potter Mansion on the morning of the 16th of August, a rather tall and lanky 17 year old man with long dark hair and grey eyes was stooped over shiny-silver motorcycle.

Standing back to admire his handy-work, he wiped his brow with the back of his wrist when he saw his best friend walk out of the backdoor looking very sleepy. Sirius, however, was anything but.

"Prongs! You're finally awake! Come look!" Sirius said as he bounded around the garden like an excited puppy. James simply yawned and followed him. James was shorter than Sirius and much less lanky. His hair, jet black, was extremely messy and stubbornly stuck up at the back. He wore circular, black wire framed glasses over his pale hazel eyes.

"Padfoot, mate, it looks _exactly _the same as it did when you got it last week." James observed as his eyes roamed the sliver bodywork, analysing as much as he could without having to move.

"Of course it _looks _the same" Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "but you have to get on it to see what I've done!" At this, James cottoned on.

"You haven't?" He exclaimed. "You do know that's against the law, don't you? Making Muggle vehicles fly is against the law; the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office will get you for this!"

Sirius looked surprised. "What? Do you realise what this means? We can go flying anywhere. I've even got an invisibility booster on it." James was still looking unimpressed, so Sirius tried another tactic, his fall back tactic; the tactic he always used when James seemed down: relate it to Lily. "We could fly over to Lily's house. I know you'd prefer to Apparate, but seeing as we can't after last summer…" Sirius trailed off at the look on James' face. This memory did not rest well with James after he'd 'accidently' Apparated into Lily' bedroom last summer, causing her to call him several unpleasant names and scream at him for a good quarter of an hour and amid the yelling, she promised to put anti-Apparition charms on her house in case he "decided to perv on her again".

For the most part of his sixth year, James' solitary goal had been to get Lily to speak to him, yet all he managed to do was get Lily to throw dirty looks and shout at him on a more frequent basis.

His mood significantly damped after this recollection, he began to walk inside. He was too deep in thought to notice Sirius' protests at leaving him alone outside. The memory of how Lily had screamed at him and the sheer volume of dirty looks that had come his way last year had made James realise that he really didn't want his relationship with Lily to be something that was full of hate and anger. Although he loved her and had done for almost 6 years, he was considering, seriously considering, giving up on Lily Evans, as he believed no relationship with her was better than having Lily hate him constantly.

Unaware of where his legs were sub-consciously taking him, he had ended up in his bedroom before he realised where he was. Sirius, however, was in hot pursuit.

"Sirius, I can't do it anymore." James blurted at his best friend before deciding to explain what he was on about. "With Lily, I mean. I can't have her hating me all the time, I just can't do it. Every time I try to make a conversation, she bites my head off. She's always shouting at me about something I've done, and the way she turns me down whenever I ask her out." James began to run his hand through his hair, becoming gradually more annoyed as he went on. "I'm going to stop with her; for good. I know it'll be hard – I love her for crying out loud! But I've got to do it; I can't keep getting broken like this." He finished somewhat sadly as he lowered himself onto his bed.

Sirius sat himself down next to him, his annoyance gone sensing the seriousness and sincerity of James' tone. "I think you're right, mate. I'm mean, there is no point in trailing after Lily if she's never going to be interested. We'll get you through it mate, don't worry." By 'we' Sirius meant himself and the other Marauders – Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, James' closest three friends and fellow troublemakers. "We'll make sure we plan tonnes of pranks to keep your mind off things." James smiled slightly.

"Thanks, Pads" He said gratefully.

"Boys, the Hogwarts post is here!" A female voiced emanated from the staircase.

"Coming, mum!" James yelled back. He made his way downstairs with Sirius, his mind still wrestling over Lily. He found his letter on the table, slightly larger than usual. Sirius was already busy reading through his, so he opened it, and something fell out. Something very badge-like.

"A Head Boy badge? What?" James exclaimed in shock.

"You're joking?" Sirius blurted.

"No, I'm Sirius" James smirked. "Sorry, couldn't resist."

"So you're actually Head Boy?"

"Looks like it." James replied as he scanned his letter from McGonagall. "But why would Dumbledore-WHAT?" Sirius jumped in shock. "No way, Lily's Head Girl." He handed Sirius the letter, with annoyance.

"Well, maybe you'll just-" Sirius stumbled, knowing nothing he could say would be of any use.

"The Heads have their own dormitory and common room, Sirius. That's a whole year living with her. How on earth am I going to be able to go a whole year living with Lily Evans?" James was fuming. How was this going to help his task over getting over Lily? Living with her was the worst thing that could have happened!

"Well, congratulations on-"

"Yeah, whatever, I'm going to fly." And with that he stalked off out of the garden broomshed to find his Cleansweep and took off into the skies.

"James, you've hardly said anything all day, dear." said a concerned Emily Potter over the dinner table that evening. "You spend most of the day on your broom or in your room, what's wrong?"

"Well, I don't feel much like talking." He retorted gloomily into his untouched casserole. "I don't know what to do with myself."

"Maybe it's time you went out of the house for a bit tomorrow?" Emily suggested. "Go to Diagon Alley to get your school stuff?"

James mulled the idea over in his head. I don't suppose it _would _be too bad an idea going to Diagon Alley to take his mind of things…well, 'things' being Lily.

"Yeah, okay. You up for that Padfoot?"

"Sounds good to me, Prongs."


	3. The Worst Thing

**Mischief Managed**

**Chapter Three: The Worst Thing**

So it was with an upbeat attitude that Lily woke up with on the morning of the 17th August busying herself getting ready to go to Diagon Alley, checking and re-checking her new booklist and potions ingredients, not so much because she thought she'd forget anything, but simply to keep her mind off the up and coming year. For every time thought of what her seventh year would be like, she thought of James Potter, and when _that _happened…well, Hogwarts rumours say that steam can be seen eschewing from Lily's ears.

It was 11:30 before Lily bade her mother and father goodbye, picked up her purse full of gold Galleons, silver Sickles and bronze Knuts, and Apparated to Charing Cross, outside the Leaky Cauldron. To Lily's surprise, the pub was very quiet and almost empty and she made her way briskly to the back door.

Despite having made her way through the magically concealed barrier to Diagon Alley countless times, ever the sentimentalist, she always felt it was something really wonderful and a brilliant feeling tapping the brick wall in the traditional way with her wand.

Drinking in the sight of the old magical street once more, Lily made her way to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and began busying herself choosing her robes and she slowly began to forget all about James Potter and how much he was ruining her life…

* * *

><p>"Ah, young Mr Potter, how may I assist you this afternoon?" James smiled. Everyone seemed to know his name and his family, even the assistants in Flourish and Blotts.<p>

"Yes, can you point me to where I can find 'Advanced Transfiguration' by Emetic Switch, please?" He asked.

"Certainly, over in that corner-" The assistant raised his arm behind him, indicating a row of shelves several feet away. "-is the Transfiguration section, right where that lovely young lady is standing." James headed in the direction the assistant had indicated and, sure enough, found a young girl browsing a shelf of books. A young girl with red hair…

* * *

><p>Lily heard an odd noise, a cross between and groan and a sigh from behind her. She turned around swiftly.<p>

"Potter?" She yelled, unaware of how shrill her voice was.

"Blimey, Evans!" James said, covering his ears. "Did you have to shriek at me? I rather like having hearing, you know."

Lily rolled her eyes and sighed internally. This was the _worst _thing that could have happened. She had been trying to get herself and her mind as far away from the obnoxious James Potter as possible, but here he was, in his arrogant glory.

"Potter, I haven't got time for your harassment. So, unless you actually want to say something constructive to me, can you move please?" Lily rambled, impatiently.

"I just came over here to ask you-"

"No, Potter, I will not go out with you!"

"-if they have any copies of Advanced Transfiguration left." James finished, as pretending not to have heard Lily's interruption.

Blushing profusely, Lily turned round, taking a copy of Advanced Transfiguration from the shelf, and handing it to James.

"Thanks." James smiled at her, taking the book. Then, deciding to take the bull by the horns, he asked "By the way, I don't know if you know, but I've been chosen as Head Boy?"

"Oh yes, I forgot-" Lily lied. "-McGonagall mentioned it in her letter to me."

"For what it's worth, I thought there really was no better choice and-" He hesitated. "-and I think I think you'll be really good at it." It was now James' turn to blush. He'd never complimented Lily like this before. Sure, he'd called her 'hot' and 'sexy' in a cheesey way before asking her out, but he'd never humbly complimented her without expecting anything in return; something which Lily also noticed.

"Thanks, Pot-James." She smiled tentatively at him.

"You used my first name?" James blurted. He had never heard Lily use his first name before. James immediately decided that he enjoyed the sensation.

"I figured, as we are Heads this year, we may as well _try _and act civil towards one another, right?"

"I suppose you're right Ev-Lily." James smiled to himself. Lily. _Lily_. It was such a beautiful name; why didn't he say it more often?

"Maybe next year won't be too bad, then." Lily laughed, nervously.

"Really? Even with the 'arrogant toerag'?" James asked, a little more playfully and saw Lily smile. Genuinely smile.

"Maybe if he becomes less 'arrogant' and more 'civil' and 'polite', then yeah, maybe."

"Yeah, right." James replied absentmindedly. "I better get paying for this." He said lamely, raising Advanced Transfiguration in his hand slightly.

"Yeah, me too." She replied, as James and Lily made their way to the counter to pay for their books, both putting the books down at the same time.

"Two copies of Advanced Transfiguration…that'll be 6 Galleons, please."

"Here's my three." Lily said as she reached into her bag to pay for her book.

"Don't worry Lily." James said, as he handed over all 6 Galleons and taking his copy off the counter. "I'll see you on the train." He said as he left the shop.

Lily stood there, utterly confused.

* * *

><p>I can't believe he did that!<p>

_It was only a book! It's not like he bought you a castle!_

But still, I didn't even ask…

_So? He just doing it to impress you!_

I'm not so sure, he seemed…different today. He even complimented me properly!

_He's only trying a new tactic to get you to go out with him. Mark my words, he'll drop his good-guy act the moment you're on the train, and he'll ask you out…again!_

Lily's mind seemed to have an endless debate about Pot-_James_! It's James, Lily kept reminding herself.

Lily was surprised that he hadn't asked her out, tried to seduce her or even laugh at her when she thought that he was going to ask her out. Then, he bought a book for her – with no catch.

Lily had never thought herself a particularly soppy romantic. Indeed, she cringed at couples who would melt at each other's feet. However, she had respect for those who made kind gestures and decided she would return the favour. After all, she had to act civil, didn't she? It would just be plain rude if she just ignored his gesture and refused to repay it. Where were her manners?

Her mind made up, she set about thinking, for the first time in her life, about doing something kind towards James Potter.

* * *

><p>Why did she have to look so beautiful? Why did she have to have the most gorgeous eyes? Why did she have to have the perfect smile? Why did she have to have a heart-warming laugh?<p>

James Potter was now deciding that giving up on Lily Evans would be the hardest thing that any human had ever done. He, honestly, had thought he'd been doing reasonably well at keeping thoughts of Lily at bay for the summer, but now, he was doing a woefully bad job.

Sirius, as ever, had teased him silly. As soon as he'd left Flourish and Blotts to find his best friend drooling over a new Cleansweep in Quality Quidditch Supplies, Sirius had sensed James was 'too distant for his normal self' and began teasing him, non-stop, about being a love-sick pansy.

For James, this was too much. He was starting to realise how stupid he'd been, pulling all those stunts for her, hoping she'd swoon at his feet when, deep down, he knew she wouldn't because that's why he loved her! Because she wasn't, and never will be, a mindless fangirl.

So, it was with this in mind, that James came up with a new plan. He was going to have one more go. No bravado. No stunts. No repeat of his fourth year attempt where he serenaded her (badly) in front of the whole school at breakfast. No, he was going to be himself. He was going to set an example as Head Boy, show Lily he _could _be disciplined, he _could _be kind to younger students and he _could _be a hard worker.

James was going to keep his head down, be kind to Lily and uphold his responsibilities as Head Boy and then, at Christmas, ask her out one last time. His final shot. If Lily wouldn't say 'yes' to him then, she never would, and he'd just have to live with it.


	4. He Didn't Ask Me Out

**Mischief Managed**

**Chapter Four: "He didn't ask me out."**

It had been a long and hot summer, so the cold windy Monday morning of September 1st was warmly welcomed by many, not least a certain Lily Evans who, currently, was leaning her head against the cool glass window at the back of her parents' cars, deeply lost in thought: in her memories.

It was only as she'd got into the car that morning that it had really hit her that it was her last ever year at Hogwarts and this would be the last ever time she'd pass through the barrier onto Platform 9¾ to welcome the beautiful scarlet Hogwart's Express as a student. She hoped she'd be able to walk through again as a mother, seeing her child leave for the first time, but that possibility looked worryingly uncertain and hazy in her mind's eye now that there were rumours flying around at about how strong Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters were getting.

Instead, she found herself reminiscing about past memories. Her first train ride to Hogwarts with Snape - the day she first saw James Potter and Sirius Black, and then the amazement and awestruck feeling she had, looking up at the historic castle from the Great Lake as the first years crossed in the boats. She remembered her Sorting Hat's words as vividly as the day she'd first heard them:

"My my! This one has talent and brains, oh yes! Pretty loyal I see too...There's courage, oh my goodness, yes! I see where to put you, it's GRYFFINFOR!"

Smiling slightly at the memory, her mind began to race through various moments of her school life. Such as the time when, in third year, she went to Hogsmeade for the first time with Alice and Mary and drunk butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks, laughing at the Marauders' idiocy. And when James Potter asked her out for the first time in first year after the Halloween feast and he she, politely, nervously and awkwardly, turned him down. Oh how times had changed!

She fondly remembered receiving her OWL results and grinning ear-to-ear and how relieved she had felt! And the morning Sirius received a Howler from home and he ran out of the Great Hall at breakfast to the amusement of all who were there. As well as the day Mary had accidently charmed her own hair green and no-one told her for over three days.

Realising that the car was now approaching a stop, Lily broke out of her nostalgia, reality flooding back around her. Upon getting out of the car with her mother and father, she slowly made her way to the barrier between platforms 9 and 10, trying to stretch the feeling out for as long as possible.

Kissing her mother and father goodbye and promising to write when she'd gotten to Hogwarts, she finally made her way through the barrier onto Platform 9¾. She'd arrived much earlier than normal, keen to set a good example and be punctual on the first day as Head Girl of Hogwarts.

However, someone else who was early was Alice, whom Lily saw putting her luggage onto a compartment through the train window. Getting on the train herself, she joined Alice in the compartment. Alice, who had her back to the compartment window, saw Lily straight away and her face lit up.

"Lily! Oh, I've missed you so much!" Lily dropped her luggage and allowed Alice to embrace her as they laughed together.

"Me too. Did you get my letter?" Alice nodded enthusiastically.

"I did but it was right at the end of the holiday; I was still in France with Frank so I thought it would be pointless to reply because I could just tell you everything in person!" She rambled quickly as she sat down and Lily, after putting her own luggage onto the top rails of the compartment, followed suit. Alice was quite short and had deep brown eyes with long, light-brown hair, and a round face covered in freckles. She, too, was slender with extremely small feet; something many of her friends enjoyed teasing her about. However, the most noticeable thing about Alice was not her looks by any means: it was how much she talked; Alice enjoyed talking.

"So, you know how I was going to go with Frank's family to France for two weeks?" Lily nodded, remembering vividly the final days of her 6th year when this was all Alice would mention. "Well, it turned out Frank's mum, who by the way is really scary when you first meet her, but she's nice one you get to know her, actually booked for three weeks so we were there an extra week and we only got back about 3 days ago, but it was amazing! The beaches were beautiful, especially when Frank took me at sunset and the food was gorgeous! Lily, you'd have loved it! But I hear our wonderful new Head Girl has had her own problems this summer, thinking over her interesting partner she'll have for this year!" They laughed at her sarcastic comment.

"Interesting? More like annoying, useless, arrogant –"

"Going on another 'I hate James Potter so much' rant, are we?" Alice teased.

"I was until you butted in!"

"When are you going to admit that fact that you lov - "

"Alice! I've told you _a thousand times_, I do not 'love James Potter with all my heart' and that is the stupidest idea you've come up with since the time you thought Madam Pomfrey and Flitwick were 'having a thing'"

"Hey! I saw them together alone in an unused classroom. What else was I to think?" Lily laughed.

"Well, it's more logical than your absurd idea of Potter and me." Alice rolled her eyes "But anyway, the train will leave soon, I need to go to the Prefect compartment. I'll see you later and say 'Hi' to Mary for me."

"See you later." Alice called after her as Lily made her way to the end of the train. Upon negotiating her way past many younger students in the narrow corridors of the train, she made her way to the final compartment which was occupied by just one other student. Predictably, of course, it was...

"Black? What are you doing here?" Lily said, utterly surprised and, slightly annoyed although she didn't quite know why.

"Waiting for James, he's gone to talk to Frank; I wanted to see the reaction you had when you saw him, to be honest. Well, I guess I could wait around for a little longer." He leant back further on the seat he was already lounging on.

"No, you won't. This compartment is for prefects and Heads, so clear off! I saw Pettigrew a couple of compartments down that you can join, I expect Lupin will be with you too, soon enough." Lily said, firmly, pointing her finger out of the door. Reluctantly, Sirius arose and exited the compartment.

Satisfied with turfing Sirius out of the compartment, she sat down as all the prefects began to arrive. With them, came James. However, James entered quietly and sat a few seats away from Lily at the top of the compartment so it was obvious they were Head Boy and Girl but well away from the area Lily had labelled 'pervert zone' in fourth year, any entrance into which she'd promised to hex him into oblivion.

The time came for Lily and James to tell the prefects when they were to patrol and give the new fifth year prefects a run-down on responsibilities and such. Having not been a prefect himself, James sat graciously silent throughout the whole ordeal to when Lily had finished.

"And we will be conducting a meeting next Saturday evening to hand out times for Hogsmeade visits so you can inform your respective houses." James added, noticing Lily had forgotten to mention anything about Hogsmeade at all.

"Yes, that's a good idea." Lily conceded. "We'll see you all next Saturday." She smiled as the prefects all filed out, biding their goodbyes to the Heads and going to join their friends or start their assigned patrolling. This left James and Lily alone in the compartment. Silence fell for a few seconds.

"Sorry for butting in at the end there, but I'd realised you'd forgotten –" James started, nervously running his hand through his hair.

"No, don't worry. Thanks, I realised too." She smiled awkwardly.

"You know," said James "I guess now is as good a time as any to decide Hogsmeade times." He mused, slightly apprehensive of Lily shouting at him for using it as an excuse to be alone with her in an otherwise empty compartment.

"That's actually a good idea." Lily said, to James' surprised. "Oh, don't look _so _surprised! You're bound to have a decent idea them once every seven years!" She joked lightly.

"I guess." He replied, bewildered; hardly daring to believe that he had been in close proximity to Lily for nearly an hour now and she still hadn't even come close to shouting at him!

"So, I think we should plan up until Christmas, just to start with. How many do you think we'll need?" Lily asked.

"Well, it's usually two or three, so I think two will do." He replied. Then, hastily deciding to always leave Lily in charge of actual decisions so he wouldn't do anything wrong, he added "Or what do you think? Is two not enough?" He garbled.

"No, no. I think two's good." She replied. "How about the first weekend in October, so people have a chance to settle in for a month, and the first one in December, so people can do Christmas shopping?" Having planned this out in her head before the meeting, Lily was glad James had suggested two.

"Yeah, sounds good." Mightily relieved he didn't have to make a decision and Lily had accepted his idea.

"Well, that sorted then J-James." Lily smiled hesitantly. James grinned widely at the use of his first name. It felt so good to hear it from Lily.

"Yeah, I'll see you later Lily." He said, still grinning, and walked off to his compartment. Lily was now getting more confused as she made her way towards the compartment that she new Alice was in. What had gotten into James Potter? Maybe she was just being too lenient with him because he'd bought her a book, and was just using it a chance to spend time with her so that he could ask her out again?

But there was one thing for certain, his walk no longer held the strut it once had, and she could no longer see the arrogance in his eyes. He had changed, yet there was something very significant about this that Lily couldn't place her finger on.

Still immersed in her thoughts, her legs had subconsciously found her compartment and opened the door to find Mary, Frank and Alice inside.

"Hey Lily, how was your meeting-of-hell with Potter?" Alice asked. Deciding not to tell her friends, just yet anyway, that she was a little confused over whether she still hated Potter, and too deep in her own thoughts to really respond, she gave a non-committal grunt.

"Really? You don't seem great. What happened?" Alice inquired further. And then Lily realised what it was she what was so significant; what was missing. She stared at Alice, and said in a small, slightly disappointed voice,

"He didn't ask me out."


	5. Seventh Year Starts

**Mischief Managed**

**Chapter Five: Seventh Year Starts**

The moment those words had spilled forth from Lily's mouth, she had regretted it. Predictably, it was as if Alice's birthday had come early, teasing Lily left, right and centre. Her obsession with Lily being 'in love' with James had started around their fifth year when Lily's eyes, allegedly, began to betray her. Of course, Lily dismissed this as nonsense. She hated Potter, and nothing Alice was going to say would change that.

"Come off it Lily! Admit it, you were disappointed he didn't ask you out!" Alice was gesticulating wildly; something she often did when trying to prove a point.

"I was not! If your theory of me being in love with him since fifth year is true, why have I never said yes to him, then?" Lily retorted.

"Because, Lily Evans, you're afraid of being with him! I still think you need him to ask you out, because that's the only way you know he's yours; to be reassured. He's asked you out all the years, so you basically know he's got eyes only for you, but once he stops, you know he's moving on and he doesn't like you anymore."

Lily was about to reply, but Mary intervened. "We're here, everyone. Don't you have to help Hagrid, Lily?"

"Oh." Lily said, turning away from Alice. "Yeah, I do; help the first years across the lake." She grimaced. "I'll see you later." She said, directing the last comment towards Mary more than Alice, and stepped off the Hogwarts' Express and onto the platform.

Such was Hagrid's size, it was easy for Lily to spot him and make her way through a crowd of fourth year Hufflepuff girls towards him as he stood at the edge of the path the wound round the bushes behind Hogsmeade station and up towards the Black Lake, calling first years towards him.

"Hello Hagrid!" Lily said, pleasantly smiling up at him.

"Hello Lily!" Hagrid boomed, causing Lily to blush slightly and a few neighbouring first years to cower and take a few steps in the opposite direction. "How're yeh doing? Come to help me have with the firs' years?"

"Yeah, and hopefully Potter will be here, but being Potter, he's not exactly known for his punctuality." Lily said. Hagrid laughed.

"Still at each other's throats, are yeh? I heard from Dumbledore meself you two were Head Boy an' Girl!" He chuckled to himself. "Can' see why you two don' get along; reckon bein' Heads'll do yeh some good!" He chuckled again. "Alrigh' James?" he said, as he spotted James had also come down from the train and was making his way towards the path where Hagrid, Lily and the first years stood.

"Hey Hagrid, good to you see you!" cried James, as Hagrid took his outstretched arm and shook the whole of James's.

"Any more firs' years?" Hagrid began to bellow. "Firs' years quick, come on now! Follow me." He said as he began to meandering down the winding path at a leisurely stroll, the first years hurrying along behind him, just to keep up, with Lily and James at the back, walking silently. "Yeh should get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts 'bout now." And sure enough, moments later, there was a collective "OOOH" from the new students, as they glimpsed, for the first time, the towering castle that dominated the skyline. Majestic and ancient, standing alone across the dark waters as the moonlight kissed its shimmering surface. Lily couldn't help but smile.

"Right, no more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid instructed the first years, as they approached the edge of the lake. Lily and James began to help make to boats for accessible for the first years by summoning or levitating the boats closer to the path so they could get in. After all the first years had safely clambered into the boats, Hagrid squeezed himself into the largest one available, which left the smallest one for Lily and James.

Eagerly, James climbed in and was followed more reluctantly by Lily. The boats, designed for eleven year olds, proved only just enough space for the two 17 year old Heads.

"Well this is –"

"-snug."

"-claustrophobic."

They both said, simultaneously. They looked directly at each other, amused, just as Hagrid shouted "FORWARD!" and the boat jolted forward, catching Lily and James off guard. James managed to grab on to the edge of the boat behind him for support, but Lily lurched forward into James.

Hoping, perhaps, to use James' arms to stop herself falling, she extended her own, but found, since his arms were already in use stopping himself from falling, that they weren't there and so she instead found his waist. Her face, meanwhile, continued to plummet, coming to a, somewhat, abrupt halt on James' abdomen, just inches above the waistband of the trousers he was wearing underneath his school robes.

As quickly as was possible, Lily removed herself from James' midriff, blushing profusely, unable to make eye contact. James, too, was blushing – not knowing whether to be embarrassed or pleased.

"I'm sorry." Lily mumbled to her legs.

"I'm not." James said, smiling, as Lily hit him but was fighting back a smile herself, glad that the tension had eased, slightly.

When the boats came to another lurching stop on the other side of the lake, James and Lily exited the boat as hastily as possible, still blushing and still unable to maintain eye contact with one another.

Assisting the first years out of their boats and onto dry land proved a good activity ease the tension between the two, as they help each boat alone. However, once Hagrid had lead all the first years into the ante-chamber of the Great Hall to meet Professor McGonagall, James and Lily had to walk round the corridor and enter the Hall from the other side, by the trophy room.

They took this walk in a slightly awkward silence, the sound of their footsteps reverberating in the emptiness of the corridor. Silently, James opened the door to the Hall and he and Lily slipped in. However, no-one paid them the slightest bit of attention as everyone else was busy chatting to their friends in anticipation of the Sorting Ceremony that was soon to follow, so they made their way over to the Gryffindor table and sat at the end where some fourth-years were seated.

As soon as Lily and James sat down the Hall's doors burst open, as Professor McGonagall strode into the Great Hall and silence fell immediately as all heads turned towards her. She was follow by a line of very nervous looking first-years who, when reaching the High Table, fanned out to a long line facing the rest of the students. Professor McGonagall, placed a wooden four-legged stool in front of the first-years and placed upon it a patched and frayed wizard's hat. The older students were now looking at the hat eagerly in anticipation of what would happen next. Then, suddenly, what looked like a rip on the worn material opened into a mouth and the Sorting Hat began its song:

_Though a hat I am in appearance_

_I am much more than that inside._

_But before you put me on your head,_

_A tale I must confide._

_For a thousand years ago or so,_

_When Hogwarts was brand new,_

_Its four founders did begin_

_To teach those magic few._

_The friendship between the four_

_Could not possibly be beat._

_Each created their own house,_

_Where different virtues were elite._

'_Twas Gryffindor who said_

_That he would teach the brave,_

_The chivalrous, the daring,_

_Those with nerve he would crave._

_Whereas in the eyes of Slytherin,_

_Only those whose blood was pure,_

_Being cunning and conniving,_

_Would be in his house for sure._

_Wise old Ravenclaw, she did seek_

_Those only of sharpest mind,_

_To be permitted in her house;_

_The most intelligent of their kind._

_Young Hufflepuff was caring,_

_She sought the very loyal,_

_The best of friends and patient folk;_

_Unafraid of hard work and toil._

_It is my job to sort you thus,_

_Into these houses four,_

_Your family they shall remain_

_Both now and evermore._

_So place me on your head,_

_And I'll peer into your mind._

_I'll see all that's there,_

_And fit you with your kind!_

A great cheer erupted in the Hall. James could hear Sirius whistling from somewhere down the table and leaned forward and saw his best friend with his head high, fingers in his mouth, wolf-whistling at the Sorting Hat. James shook his head fondly and turned back to Professor McGonagall who had just begun to read out the names of the first-years.

"Adams, Ruby!"

A small red-headed girl made her way slowly towards the wooden stall, her hands gripping the cuffs of her robes for dear life.

"Is it me," began James, addressing no-one in particular "or are the first-years getting smaller each year? I mean, I swear I wasn't that small when I was 11!"

"No, you dolt; you're obviously getting bigger." Lily snapped at James in an aggressive manner, clearly annoyed. She quickly turned he attention back to the Sorting, as she saw Ruby Adams be sorted into Gryffindor and duly clapped and cheered with the rest of her house as Ruby can and sat down at the end of the Gryffindor table on the far left-hand side of the Great Hall, opposite Lily.

She sat down nervously, not knowing where to look or what to do, her cheeks bright red with embarrassment and Lily gave her a smile, which she apprehensively returned before turning to watch the rest of her classmates get Sorted.

After "Zabini, Rodwena " had been made a Slytherin and Dumbledore and begun and ended the feast, Lily and James stood up to help shepherd to new first-year students, with help for the other Gryffindor prefects, to the Gryffindor common room.

Before they got very far, however, James was knocked sideways by a rather large Sirius Black.

"Prongs! I haven't seen you all summer! How are you?" joked Sirius. No-one besides the Potter and family and Sirius himself knew that he stayed with James during the summer holidays. James smiled.

"I had a friend round my house for most of the holidays; but he was annoying. I swear, one more day with him and I'd have hexed him into next week."

"I feel your pain; I had to stay round a friend's too. I mean, he was the worst host you could possibly imagine. He kept talking about this girl over and over and –"

"Alright, alright, I get your point, Pads." James said hastily, not knowing whether Lily could hear him, but she was deep in conversation with a first year as she lead the group towards Gryffindor tower; James and Sirius trailing at the back. James was silently amused at the first-years' reactions to the Hogwarts staircases moving on their own, as they let out gasps and screams of shock.

After a short while, they reached the seventh floor of Gryffindor tower, the floor on which the Gryffindor common room was located. If you didn't know that there was a whole plethora of dormitories and a common room behind the painting of the Fat Lady, you'd never have guessed; for it merely seemed just another picture on the thick stone walls of Hogwarts, covered in a myriad of moving portraits.

"Password?" requested the Fat Lady. Lily cleared her throat with an air of authority.

"Scottish Pine."

"Correct." The Fat Lady answered courteously, and swung forward to allow entrance to the common room.

As Lily lead the way into the common room, the new first years piling in behind her, James and Sirius were waiting outside, already talking of what pranks they could do that year, but before they could get very far, Professor McGonagall approached them.

"Potter, I request you and Miss Evans accompany me to your dormitories," she said, trying to take as little notice of Sirius as possible. It was common knowledge that Sirius irked Professor McGonagall beyond all measure. "I trust she is up here?"

"She's in the common room, Professor." Piped up Sirius, accompanied by a mock bow. However, he was spared a rollicking from Professor McGonagall by the appearance of Lily's head around the common room opening.

"Professor?" Lily inquired, slightly perplexed.

"Ah, Miss Evans," McGonagall said sharply, "I must insist you and Mr Potter follow me to your Head Dormitories, immediately."

"Certainly, Professor." Lily replied, pleasantly, as she and James began to follow McGonagall back down Gryffindor tower to the fourth floor.

"It has been a tradition," said McGonagall as they passed through a worn tapestry that was divided in quarters. The top left section of the tapestry depicted a golden lion breathing scarlet flames, the top right, an intricately stitched black badger on a golden-yellow backdrop. The third quadrant depicted a dark brown eagle flying through a cloudless blues sky, with brilliant bronze talons, sharp as razors. The final and fourth quadrant was silver in colour, with an emerald-green serpent in the foreground, sticking its dark red forked tongue out. "for the Head Students to live in these dormitories for centuries." She continued. "You may choose a password for yourselves, it will stay thus unless certain circumstances require its alteration. For this, you must seek me. Understood, Potter, Evans?"

"Yes, Professor." They replied in unison.

"Good. I shall see you both tomorrow at breakfast to issues your timetables." McGonagall said, succinctly, and left the two Heads alone to decide upon the password to their dormitories.

"Well, I've got a few ideas," Began James, "how about –"

"No! I'm choosing this password Potter –"

"James." James corrected; Lily ignored him and went on.

"-because you'll make it obscene or insulting about me, or perverted or something. No, I'm choosing it." She said, sharply, then she addressed the door that hung as the entrance to their dormitories. The door was small, light brown and made from pine, with a pattern on the centre of the door, which was an exact replica of the tapestry that they had previously walked through with McGonagall. "The password is 'Bowtruckle'"

The four animals on the door - eagle, lion, serpent and badger – all slide towards the very middle of the door. Almost instantly, the four animals came together, and a hole appeared at this point. In no time at all, the door had vanished, leaving an open archway for James and Lily to walk through. As soon as they had done so, albeit with some confusion, the door re-appeared behind them. However, this incident was off little significance after what the Head Students found to be their accommodation for the next year.

Gobsmacked, they walked further into the room before them.


	6. Prejudice

**Mischief Managed**

**Chapter Six: Prejudice**

It was a spectacular room that greeted them. It was fairly small and circular, with a domed ceiling. The floor was covered in a plush, velvety rug that, like the door and tapestry outside it, was divided in quadrants to represent the four ancient houses of Hogwarts. A small, red settee faced a very grand and ornate fire-place and was flanked by two red armchairs. There was a long wooden desk against the wall at the far side of the room that was in-front of a large window, looking over the west side of the Great Lake. Small, brass statues of each of the Hogwarts founders was placed around the side of the room. On either side of the fire place was a door with the crest of Godric Gryffindor above each; on one it said "Head Boy" and "Head Girl" on the other.

Grinning to himself, James exclaimed aloud "I only thought this would be our rooms; I didn't realise we get all this!" as he bounded to the window to drink in the view.

Lily, however, decided to go through the door marked "Head Girl" to find her own bedroom. The room was larger than she imagined, with a four-poster bed at the far wall and familiar Gryffindor drapings around the side. There was a large set of draws against one wall and a desk facing a window, over-looking the lake, on against the other. The floor was covered in a similar rug to their common room and there was space for a notice board next to the door. Lily smiled gleefully to herself. As much as she enjoyed the company of the other girls in her year, Lily always cherished having her own space.

Her suitcase was already waiting for her by her bed, so she decided to unpack and sort out all her possessions. When she'd finished, she grabbed a piece of parchment, her pot of ink and favourite quill and wrote:

_Mum and Dad,_

_I'm safe and sound at Hogwarts now, so you can stop worrying! I had a great first meeting with the prefects on the train and James and I have practically sorted out this first terms trips to Hogsmeade village; much better than I expected!_

_Also, after the welcome feast, Professor McGonagall showed James and me to our own living space this year! We have our own common room and our own bedrooms; it really is beautiful!_

_I'm very excited about classes tomorrow; I can't wait to learn more NEWTs! _

_Lots of love,_

_Lily._

When she'd finished her letter, she rolled the parchment up walked out the door and across the castle to the owlery. She didn't encounter anyone on her walk; the castle always seemed eerily empty on the first night of term, with most of the students catching up with their friends in their respective common rooms. Each step she took seemed to reverberate more than usual around her and echo more loudly against the stone walls. As she was crossing the grounds, the air was very cold and blustery, her auburn hair dancing in the wind as she held her own arms for warmth.

At the top of the owlery stairs, she saw a figure tying their own letter to one of the school owls and then releasing it into the air. It was a figure Lily recognised.

"Remus?" Lily asked the figure, hesitantly. The boy turned round.

"Hello, Lily!" He said, surprised, and grinning jovially. "How are you? Sorry I didn't write much over the summer." Lily smiled back.

"It's fine Remus, you don't have to apologise. I understand." She reassured him.

"I know, but I still feel bad…especially as I know your friends were away a lot this summer."

"Remus, I said it's-"

"Yeah, I know. It's just that it was a little worse this summer than before. Now that He's getting stronger, others of my kind seem to be more, ah, pathetic to his cause and promise of a share of His power than before. It gets harder to talk to them about Dumbledore's cause because, well, they quite frankly don't want to hear it. And what's more, being underground with my kind a lot, I find myself…thinking they have a point, you know? I mean, my career prospects after school don't look good." Remus, blurted, sadly. Lily put a hand on his shoulder in comfort.

"You know that Dumbledore doesn't approve of the werewolf oppression and they'll always try and exaggerate how much we 'normal' witches and wizards look down on you, but you know it's not true." Lily said, gently, never taking her eyes off Remus'.

"I know." He said, as he embraced Lily. As they broke apart, he said "Anyway, are you writing to home?" Lily walked over the where Lugo was and he held out his leg for Lily to attach her letter to him.

"Just to mum and dad" she said, with some slight regret in her voice. "it's been made very clear to me that Petunia doesn't want anything to do with me at all now."

"Because you're a witch?! I would have thought she'd learn to accept it by now." Exclaimed Remus, quite angrily. Then, more soberly, he said "I guess we don't have it much differently, then" Lily shook her head.

"It only seems to be my sister that disapproves. You have almost all of our kind being prejudice towards you." She said as she let Lugo off with her letter.

"But I'm sure it'll be harder as it's your own sister." Lily shrugged at the comment.

"I don't know." She sighed, airily. "At least neither one of used is prejudiced."

"No, that's true." Remus smiled, as they both began to walk out of the owlery. They continued to talk about their last year of Hogwarts as they walked through the cold autumn evening back to the castle.

They walked up to the Gryffindor common room, to find it surprisingly deserted, but for a group of four third year boys in the corner, a short, blond sixth year girl reading a transfiguration book in an armchair in front of the fire, and a black-haired seventh year asleep on the sofa. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Sirius, wake up." He said, as he shook Sirius' shoulders. Yet, Sirius only gunted and stayed draped across the sofa. "Come on, Sirius." Remus shook Sirius again.

"Go away, Remus." Sirius, yawned, lazily.

"_Wingardium Leviosa"_

"What the-" Sirius yelled as he opened his eyes to see he was now two feet above the sofa he's previously been lying on. "Remus, let me go! I'm awake!"

"It's not me!" Remus snorted, trying to contain his laughter. Sirius look round in mid-air.

"EVANS!" He roared. "Let me down, this instant!" Lily smiled, over-sweetly.

"Okay, Black." She said, and as she walked on through the common room to go up to the girls dormitories, Sirius fell down ungainly on the floor. "See you tomorrow, Remus" She called behind her.

As she walked up the steps to the seventh year girls' dormitories, she could already hear her friends talking. They all turned to look at her as she walked in.

"Hey, Lily!" exclaimed Mary. She had very dark brown hair that was very long and wavy, deep blue eyes with slightly crooked teeth. She had a wide smile as she leapt up to hug Lily. "Where have you been all evening? I haven't seen you since the train ride."

"She was probably too busy with Potter in a broom closet somewhere!" Joked Alice, wickedly. Lily rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"No, I was helping Hagrid with the first years across the lake and then McGonagall took Potter and me to our own Head common room and living quarters." Retorted Lily, frowning at Alice.

"You mean, you won't be here this year?!" asked Mary, despondently.

"No, no! I will, I'll just be sleeping in –"

"-Potter's bed!"

"My _own_ bed, in my _own_ room." Lily raised her voice over Alice and Mary's giggles. "Seriously, what is the matter with you two?! I have to 'live' with Potter this year as we're heads, but no more than I have to; I still want to spend time with you! Do you really think Potter will replace you?"

Alice snorted "I think he'll try. You'd better keep your word, Lily, because he's not stealing you from us or I'll transfigure him into snail." Lily laughed.

"You can transfigure him into a snail, anyway, if you like. But I'd much prefer if you transfigure him into a hard-working, dependable, sensible and well-behaved head-boy because Merlin knows he needs to be one."

"Looks like Lily just described her dream boy to us!" giggled Alice, and Mary doubled over in stitches.

Despite the fact she knew she was a target of Alice's "Potter Puns", and had been for years, Lily enjoyed the company of her friends and she knew that, come then end of the year, she'd really miss them.


	7. U R A Q T

**Mischief Managed**

**Chapter Seven: U-R-A-Q-T**

"Oh for the love of Merlin!" exclaimed a disgruntled Sirius Black over breakfast; small pieces of zealously buttered toast flying from his mouth, making Peter Pettigrew, a short, plump boy with light brown hair sitting opposite him, squeak in protest. "Padfoot, that's disgusting!"

"Sorry, Wormy, but have you seen today's classes? Is McGonagall having a joke?! Double transfiguration on a Friday afternoon? What does she think she's playing at? Friday afternoons are for preparation for the weekend not changing desks into pigs and back." Disgusted, he started ripping up his toast, sullenly, into little pieces.

"Sirius, changing desks into pigs was something on our O.W.L; I think we're a bit passed that." Remus cut in. "Besides, at least you get Tuesday and Thursday afternoons off, and none of us have a class at 3:30 on Wednesday."

As they were discussing their new timetable fervently, James joined them and sat down next to Peter and reached for some toast for himself. "Are these our new timetables, then?" He asked as he took one from Remus and examined it. "A full Friday afternoon? What a-"

"-complete-"

"-an utter-"

"-joke." Sirius finished off. "I know, mate. Look on the bright side though, Evans'll be there. What else would you rather do that gawk at Evans on a fine Friday afternoon for two hours?" Sirius joked and James, despite himself, laughed.

"It's a bit more risky than that these day, Pads. If she catches me, she can torture me all night and no-one would hear me scream." He said, as they all laughed. "Or maybe she'd just tie me up in our common room and you'd never ever see me again."

"We'd just come in a rescue you, obviously, Prongs. It would require us knowing your password though." Sirius quipped, logically.

James had noticed that ever since he'd gone to the Gryffindor and told his fellow Marauders that he'd be staying in the private living space for the head students, Sirius had tried to coax the password out of him. He had firmly decided, however, not to let his friends – at least not for the time being – into the head common room, in an attempt to keep his promise to himself that he made in the summer and be sensible and hard working – in front of Lily, at least.

He still had mixed feelings about in private living space with Lily for the year. He was, on the one hand, very happy to have the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Lily, especially in a place where they could talk freely. On the other hand, he was nervous about what would happen after Christmas, the time he was planning to ask her out for the final time; it would become an incredibly awkward time. Most of all, however, he knew he would miss his friends. Being an only child, he thoroughly cherish the evenings he used to spend with Remus, Peter and Sirius in their dormitory together, planning their pranks, teasing each other and laughing as much as they could.

Breaking out of his reverie, James answered "How would Lily react if you knew the password to our common room?"

"She'd probably send him to the hospital wing in an ice-cream cone." Piped up Peter, as the four of them, having finished their breakfasts, began to make their way back up to the Gryffindor common room.

"Exactly, Padfoot, I hope you listened to Peter's Divination skills. Besides, I'm fairly sure she doesn't like the fact she has to share the Head's common room with the Head Boy, if I'm honest."

* * *

><p>"-as I'm sure you all remember from O.W.L. If this indeed the case, and we must assume it is, then <em>all<em> vanished objects behave thus. You would be mistaken as to think it is, therefore, just as simple to vanish living objects as non-living ones but this is a mistake. One must consider what truly is the difference between a living and a non-living object before one attempts to -"

"-Hey Prongs, stop gawking at Evans." Whispered Sirius, from James' right.

"I'm not, Sirius." Retorted James, "I'm concentrating on McGonagall and taking notes."

"I didn't realise embossing 'L.E' on the top of your page constituted 'taking notes'," Smirked Sirius, playfully. "While gazing at the back of L.E's head at the same time."

"It's not my fault she sat in front of me, is it?"

"It's your fault for sitting directly behind her!"

"He's right." Said Wormtail, as he leant across Remus and Sirius to address James "You did wait for Evans to sit down before choosing the seat behind her."

"Oh alright!" Huffed James, breathlessly "I get your point, but I was actually concentrating of McGonagall." He said, as he was met with sniggers of disbelief from Sirius. James turned to face the front of the class as McGonagall went on explaining the advance theory on vanishing living objects, but he could not concentrate for long. Now he _was_ staring at Lily in front of him, admiring her beautiful red hair and thinking of highly implausible scenarios in which Lily would let him stroke it…

James was still daydreaming as he saw people getting packing away their things around him and leaving for the end of the lesson. As he was leaving the class with Sirius, Remus and Peter, somebody grabbed on to his arm.

"James, can I talk to you?" Asked Lily, as she let go of James' arm. James nodded silently, as he motioned for the others to continue without him, and Lily continued. "I would like it if we can go through our plans for the meeting tomorrow."

"The meeting…" James said, confused, as he tried to focus on Lily rather than what he was daydreaming about.

"…with the prefects?" Lily said in a tone of incredulity. "Come on, James! You can't have forgotten already! That big head of yours should surely be able to at least hold one or two thoughts."

"Prefect meeting. About Hogsmeade. Of course. I remember." James said, struggling to remain coherent. "Do you want to sort it out now then?" He asked.

"Well, most of it's sorted. This is more of a 'this is what we're going to tell the prefects' talk than a 'let's discuss what we will tell the prefects' talk." Lily said as she motioned for them to walk up to their common room and James fell into step beside her. "Anyway, we sorted Hogsmeade on the train so we just to devise patrol rotas for the all the prefects, including ourselves –"

"-well I can help you with that if you –"

"-and fortunately, I've already devised the timetable." She continued, as they began climbing to the fourth floor of Gryffindor tower, passing a group of second year Gryffindors as they did so. "So I really just need to you to check and make sure you're free on the patrol nights and then just remember to turn up at the meeting, Charms classroom 1pm, and I can do all the talking and everything will go swimmingly. How does that sound?" She asked, in a subtly patronising voice.

"And what happens when you forget something again, like last time? " James asked, cockily. "Bowtruckle." He said to the Hogwarts crest on the door to their common room. "See, I can keep a thought in my 'big head'." He said, pointedly.

"I won't forget anything." Lily replied, ignoring his jibe. "Wait here." She said as she disappeared into her room and returned with sheet of parchment and handed it to James and he examined his patrolling timetable. James looked confused.

"I thought you wouldn't want us patrolling together. In fact, I'd have thought you'd put me as far from you in every shift as possible." Lily collapsed into the sofa in front of the fire. Suddenly, she looked very tired.

"I was up last all night doing those and I realised that it wouldn't look good if the Heads were never seen together and it's probably best if we do these things together. And besides, I said that I wanted us to at least be civil towards each other, so I guess we should at least try to be friends and I thought that would be the easiest way to start, right?"

"Yeah sure…it's just pretty hard being you're friend if you keep snapping at me though." James said, cautiously. He didn't want to set Lily off against him again.

"I know, I'm sorry. I guess I just have to get used trying to be civil to you; old habits die hard." She smiled. "In any case, it's also hard to be friends if you keep asking me out all the time."

"Hey! I haven't –"

"Yeah, I know, James. I just meant…you know…before." James squirmed uncomfortably. He'd hoped Lily wouldn't bring up the previous years of him acting stupidly and rashly towards her.

"Look, Lily, I know I was being an 'arrogant toe-rag' before but I won't do anything like that again; I promise! I'm sorry for badgering you before but I won't do it again. I do want us to be friends." He smiled at her nervously.

"No more unbelievably terrible chat-up lines like that alphabet one?" Lily asked, more playfully. As she said it, James remembered the incident: "How many letters are there in the alphabet, Evans?" "26, Potter." "I thought it was 21." "No, it's 26, you airhead." "Oh yeah, I forgot, U, R, A, Q, T!".

"Yeah, that was pretty horrific." He grimaced "I won't attempt that again, don't worry." Lily laughed, a sweet, almost musical laugh that James thought he could never get enough of.

"Good. I hope you don't. Now we've sorted everything for tomorrow, I need to go catch up with Alice to do our Potions essay Slughorn set us this morning, and I need to go fast because if I spend to long allegedly alone with you, Alice will think we've been up to something disgusting. I'll talk to you later, James." She smiled, amiably as she went to leave the common room.

"We could always try those things Alice says we're doing one day, you know." James called after her, cheekily.

"Don't push your luck, Potter!" She called back.

* * *

><p><strong><span>Author's Note:<span> **Hello everybody that decides to read this! Yeah, it's been a while but I will finish this story! *much whooping*

I do appreciate your views and especially appreciate you reviews (and favourites and what-not); it's always nice to know that somebody wants to make an effort to brighten your day with a lovely review (because they do brighten my gloomy, revision filled days).

I do hope you enjoy the magical, quite literally, story that I am writing! Don't expect quick updates in the near future, as I have exams next week (and a lab report in for 11 hours that I haven't finished. lolyay). It would be awesome to chat to you guys if you wanna PM or Twitter (at:Matthew_ _ _Lee, without the spaces inbetween the underscores...). Until next time!


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